Beyond Meat constantly reinvests their earnings in further research and development, as well as in marketing, and in scaling up production and distribution. According to the Partners In Leadership Happiness at Work survey, when employees are happier at work, 85% take more initiative. Plant based burgers are not new but Beyond Meat has been able to capture more of the . Another key marketing vehicle for the company is its partnerships with big brands likeMcDonalds, KFCand Pizza Hut. Beyond Meat also has big contracts with fast-food chains, as mentioned before, which is a distribution canal bringing lots of cash flow. While this may seem like a minor detail using beetroot juice to mimic blood it helped the Beyond Burger get one step close to winning over non-vegans. By focusing on their fresh foods, like their Beyond Burger patties which many agreed pulled off the meatless meat trick more convincingly they were able to put their time and effort into a product that was going to make them more successful in the long run. Evaluation of Options- Evaluating the options of Beyond Meat vs. regular meat. Beyond Meat, therefore, accomplished something huge: its name is enough to make people reassured about the quality and taste. Additionally, Beyond Meat is introducing its plant-based meatballs in Coles, the second largest supermarket chain in Australia with over 2,500 stores. When vegan meat alternatives first started to appear on the market, many people saw them as a fad. Still, disputes aside, Beyond Meat has been doing very well these past few years. And if youre looking to follow in this impressive brands footsteps, keep our above tips in mind and consider adding brand tracking software to your lineup because, without insight into how consumers feel about your brand, you wont know where to grow next. Even though the number of vegans and vegetarians was increasing in 2013 when the company launched its first products, the market for plant-based burgers was small: only 0.5% growth in this category. 4. The Impossible Foods start-up was founded in 2011 in California by Patrick O. The implied stock values in this scenario are significantly below Beyond Meats current price. The mattress. The mission of the company is focused on plant-based meat alternatives, using pea and other plant protein isolates. Balance Sheet: I made $290 million of adjustments to calculate invested capital with a net decrease of $228 million. First of all, think of the big picture when it comes to segmentation: who will really buy your products? Of course, this is wrong, and our body adapts to whatever we give it. The first six months of 2020 have visibly transformed Beyond Meat 's ( BYND -0.58%) approach to marketing its plant-based, meat substitute products. For this analysis, I choseKraft Heinz as a potential acquirer of Beyond Meat since it doesnt have a pea-protein based product like Beyond Meats and has a history of acquisitions. The original packaging did not display vegetables, and the words meat and best in the products names were not chosen randomly. .css-16c7pto-SnippetSignInLink{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;cursor:pointer;}Sign In, Copyright 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved, adidas Promo Code - $30 Off 1000s of Best-Sellers + Free Shipping, 60% off running shoes and apparel at Nike without a promo code, Michael Kors promo code First Order: sign up for KORSVIP + Get 10% off. Heres a post fromBeyond Meats Facebook page: There is no mention at all that the Even-Better Beyond Burger is plant based. Rising beef prices, coupled with the overwhelming at-home food consumption trend, present an unforeseen opportunity for the company to entice new customers by doubling down on grocery sales. Consensus estimates expect revenue will grow 61% YoY in 2020, and just 17% YoY by 2025, per Figure 1. January 2021. Even in the most optimistic of scenarios, Beyond Meat is worth less than its current share price. Get the latest information and insights into the world of brand. Though the firms revenue has improved from $298 million in 2019 to $401 million over the trailing-twelve-months, Beyond Meatscore earnings[1]have fallen from $6 million to $4 million over the same time. While Beyond Meats SG&A (which includes marketing and advertising expenses) represents a large percentage of the firms TTM revenue, the firms total dollars spent on SG&A pales in comparison to larger competitors. Considering these competitors are already supplying plant-based protein products, Beyond Meat faces an increasingly uphill battle to reach the size it needs to match the cost efficiencies of larger competitors like these two established firms. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Distribution and use of this material are governed by These days, fewer investors pay attention to fundamentals and the red flags buried in financial filings. the stock is worth just $30/share today - a 57% . We're here to help brands make better marketing decisions by delivering world-class, scalable insights. All rights reserved. There are limits on how much Kraft Heinz should pay for Beyond Meat to earn a proper return, given the NOPAT or free cash flows being acquired. This is the market drive for Beyond Meat. Beyond Meat entered into a partnership with PepsiCo. Figure 11: Implied Acquisition Prices to Create Value. In this scenario, Beyond Meat grows revenue by 37% compounded annually (which results in NOPAT growing 42% compounded annually) for the next 12 years. For example, Kelloggs delayed the launch of itsfirst roundof Incogmeato products due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This all ended with Beyond Meats new look. The organizational goals have to be settled and explained. strategy uncovers and shares the "bold vision, . Leverage partners with larger platforms to expand reach. Its difficult to imagine the product or service that got your brand on the map might not be the one that helps you achieve further growth. However, the fundamentals reveal this stock is more style than substance. Among the items Beyond Meat excludes when calculating its adjusted EBITDA are equity-based compensation, restructuring expenses, and a vague line item labeled other. 3. Entrepreneur, retail expert, strategy consultant and author. Your brand, too, needs the liberty to change. After all, nothing could replace a real burger, could it? News Corp is a global, diversified media and information services company focused on creating and distributing authoritative and engaging content and other products and services. See the math behind this reverse DCF scenario. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Figure 10 shows the implied values for BYND assuming Kraft Heinz wants to achieve an ROIC on the acquisition that equals its WACC of 4.4%. Competitors. [1]My firms core earnings are a superior measure of profits, as demonstrated inCore Earnings: New Data & Evidencea paper by professors at Harvard Business School (HBS) & MIT Sloan. Their main rival is the company Impossible Foods. Marketing News & Strategy Here's how KFC is marketing its updated Beyond Meat faux chicken in two markets Beyond Fried Chicken could go national if strong results are seen in Charlotte and. Stun is a creative branding agency. Big brands have started plant-based meats and substances that are more healthy in order to show that Beyond Meat is not the only plant-based guys in town and gain some market share. It began trading at $25/share on the Nasdaq stock exchange and ended the day at $65.75. How Beyond Meat's Marketing Strategy Set it Apart - LinkedIn Purchase Decision- When consumers are informed of the evaluation of options, information is readily available, and they have recognized a problem, it is so easy for consumers to make a newly informed decision. However, it hasnt always been smooth sailing for Beyond Meat in March 2019, Don Lee Farms filed a civil suit against its former business partner. Economic earnings, which account for the unusual items on the income statement and . As revenue slides, Beyond Meat CEO outlines strategy to improve Lets take a look at data from Germany. They exploit their established brand engagement to build more brand equity, at a low cost, because they dont pay a cent for restaurants to make this kind of indirect advertising for them. Shares have fallen 10% since news onJune 25, 2020that McDonalds was discontinuing testing of a plant-based burger it dubbed the PLT made with a Beyond Meat patty in several Canadian markets. The following fund receives an unattractive rating and allocates significantly to BYND. Changes that have inspired the birth of Beyond Meat is the increased demand on plant-based products. Beyond Meats profitability ranks at the bottom of this peer group. A new marketing strategy will play up the health and sustainability benefits of Beyond Meat, Brown said. By constantly innovating, pivoting when necessary, and having a real eye for detail, in just under 10 years, Beyond Meat has become one of the biggest names in a previously unheard-of industry. The design softened. We are providing energy for the body and we can pull it from a lot of different places. It represents what we feel is the first product that mainstream omnivores are willing to seek out and put at the center of their plate.. Beyond Meat founder, Ethan Brown, understood the place of meat in the collective perception very early on. A year ago, the consumer discretionary upstart's top line reflected the depth of its marketing and supply chain investment in the restaurant business: These sales were nearly identical to their retail counterpart: Source: Beyond Meat. But keep in mind to do this, youll need data on how consumers are responding to your competitors. The number of shares sold short has increased by 10% since last month. Per Figure 4, Beyond Meats operating expenses as a percent of revenue have actually increased over the past twelve months from 97% in 2Q19 to 107% in 2Q20. Beyond Meat, which went public in the spring of 2019 and whose shares have fallen 16 percent this year, said it had completed a comprehensive greenhouse gas analysis that would be released in. Data by YCharts Kellogg ( K ) and Conagra ( CAG ) are already big established brands, that . The first campaign, The Future of Protein, was launched in 2015. Strategic Windows- Beyond Meat knew that because of the health craze in the world and the expansion of knowledge surrounding healthy food has widened, that they have a short window to get in and get it done right when it comes to plant-based foods. Prior to that Mr. Oghoghomeh served as Head of Recruitment Marketing - West Zone for Amazon, an eCommerce company from 2019 to 2021. While Tyson Foods posted almost 5% margin in FY2020 (ending 3rd Oct, 2020), the company is a dominant force in the market with its size being significantly larger in comparison, which makes it probably unreasonable to expect similar margins for Beyond Meat, which has still not made any profits. 5 Lessons for Food Startups From Beyond Meat's Stunning Success A vegan burger that bleeds. 4 Challenges That Could Hurt Beyond Meat Stock | The Motley Fool So, what can you learn from Beyond Meat's marketing strategy? They did not service the vegan and vegetarian markets as traditional players did. Beyond Meat was originally founded in 2009 by Ethan Brown, who worked with two University of Missouri professors, Fu-hung Hsieh and Harold Huff, to develop meatless, plant-based protein. This wasn't a cheap decision -- Beyond Meat incurred a charge of nearly $6 million to repack and reroute this inventory in response to consumer demand. Beyond Meat was originally founded in 2009 by Ethan Brown, who worked with two University of Missouri professors, Fu-hung Hsieh and Harold Huff, to develop meatless, plant-based protein The professors had been working on perfecting their formula for years, and the first Beyond Meat product launched in 2012 was their "Chicken-Free Strips". People are perfectly happy eating vegan food as long as they dont know thats what theyre doing,saysCarol J. Adams, author ofThe Sexual Politics of Meat. Founder and Tech Inventor at Princess Technologies. They have sharply improved from -93.3% in 2016 to -4.2% in 2019. As of 2020, the Beyond Meat company sells: Cookout Classic (10 plant-based burgers). The paper empirically shows that my firms data is superior to Operating Income After Depreciation and Income Before Special Items from Compustat, owned by S&P Global (SPGI). Making the world smarter, happier, and richer. These launches create a lot of buzz and put Beyond the Meat on the map. Critical Details Found in Financial Filings by My Firms Robo-Analyst Technology. Beyond Meats success comes partially from the fact that it has been able to evolve alongside or prior to consumer demand. We believe Beyond Meat Revenues have the potential to rise close to 2.7x from the level of $407 million in 2020 to $1.1 billion by 2023, representing a growth rate of roughly 40% per year (for context, the compounded annual growth rate was a very healthy at 164% between 2016 and 2019). Beyond Meat Is On Its Path To Irrelevance - SeekingAlpha Even with that success, Brown continues to think big . Clearly, vegan meat alternatives were no longer a fad. Competitors, Serious Uphill Battle for Beyond Meat to Improve Profitability. Figure 1: Consensus Revenue Growth Estimates: 2020-2025, 2020-2025 revenue growth rates based on consensus estimates, Competition is Plentiful and Has Competitive Advantages. Research on Beyond Meat's Profitability Problems and Strategies. When I use myreverse discounted cash flow (DCF) modelto analyze the expectations implied by the stock price, BYND appears significantly overvalued. This article will take a deep dive into Beyond Meats journey to success and provide some tips other brands can use to fuel their own growth stories. In 2019, they partnered up with Dunkin Donuts to supply their Meatless Sausage for the breakfast chains sandwiches nationwide. Beyond Meats R&D in 2019 was just $21 million compared to $56 million for ConAgra and $97 million for Tyson over the same time. + Follow. Buy These 2 Stocks in 2023 and Hold for the Next Decade, 2 Growth Stocks to Buy Before the Big Bull Rally, Join Over Half a Million Premium Members And Get More In-Depth Stock Guidance and Research, Copyright, Trademark and Patent Information. Resourceful, strategic, and self-directed leader with a proven record of achievement in global account management, business development and sales strategy leadership. Ads like this are created to convert the masses instead of targeting a niche market. If, however, McDonalds chooses to not continue on with the PLT or finds another supplier for its plant-based protein items, BYND could fall even further. Beyond Meat's Branding Helped Take Plant-Based Mainstream To justify its current price of $135/share, Beyond Meat must immediately improve its NOPAT margin to 5% (same as Tyson and more than double its current margin of 2%). 2 Reasons to Avoid a Roth 401(k) for Your Retirement Savings, Warren Buffett's Latest $2.9 Billion Buy Brings His Total Investment in This Stock to $66 Billion in 4 Years, Want $1 Million in Retirement? Time to Buy? And by 2020, Beyond Meat had launched an e-commerce site that served as a direct-to-consumers portal, allowing customers to purchase their products individually. KFC, Beyond Meat ready nationwide plant-based chicken rollout The Audacious (and Risky) Strategy That Made Beyond Meat a Billion And while there are a few ways to do this, brand monitoring software is your best bet, as it allows you to track your chosen brand KPIs for the target audiences that matter. However, Beyond Meat staunchly defended itself and its food safety protocols, turning the tables on Don Lee and saying: We simply couldnt get Don Lee Farms to meet our standards. Even in 2021, the dispute is still going on, though both sides seem to have claimed victory. Fiduciaries should avoid Beyond Meat Inc. (BYND). However, the lack of fervor for their first product did nothing to stop Beyond Meat from trudging forward. Low margins in an increasingly competitive industry leave Beyond Meat with less flexibility to compete on price or invest in marketing and R&D. Letting go of your vision and plans is hard, but if its the right thing to do, you have to be willing to pivot. In 2014 they developed their first simulated beef product and expanded their presence from 1,500 to 6,000 stores in the US. Also, seeing that a lot of slaughter houses will absolutely not let anyone come see the inside conditions that animals are facing. From the Beyond Burger to Beyond Sausage, and their latest Beyond Meatballs this brand is really on a roll. As in all markets, there are leaders. What Could Beyond Meat Look Like In 2023? - Forbes Eating meat has long been associated with masculinity. Below are specifics on the adjustments I make based on Robo-Analyst findings in Beyond Meats 10-Q and 10-K: Income Statement: I made $33 million of adjustments, with a net effect of removing $21 million innon-operating income(5% of revenue). Instead Beyond Meat fought for placement within the meat section of grocery stores. Beyond Meat Announces New Executive Leadership Appointments to Therefore, the future will be bright, but they need to continuously gain market share by introducing new products and innovation within the plant-based space. Over the TTM, Beyond Meat removed $23.7 million (6% of revenue) in share-based compensation and $7.5 million in restructuring expenses (2% of revenue) when calculating adjusted EBITDA. Michelle Amador - Sr. Director, Global Strategic Partnerships - Beyond Beyond Meat had originally been sold in retail shops across the USA, then worldwide. Beyond Meat vs. Impossible Foods: The fight for market share in meat The company launched the Impossible Burger in 2016. Given that most plant-based protein products are now aiming for the same goal imitating the taste and texture of meat it stands to reason that as the plant-based protein market matures, differentiation between products will diminish as all products begin to taste more and more like meat. Full Year 2020 Financial Highlights1. This pivot on management's part is undergirded by a continuing commitment to building out manufacturing and distribution capacity -- even in the middle of a pandemic, Beyond Meat more than tripled its capital expenditures in the second quarter against the prior year, to $26 million. No more comparison with animal meat products: Beyond Meat has nothing more to prove, its products are famous, recognized as good for the palate and for our health. However, this trend is expected to reverse in the short term and the company will once again get on its fast growth track and there are multiple trends that support this growth outlook. This is a full-time position, reporting to the Chief Legal Officer. With such high expectations, nearly any negative news could place Beyond Meats future earnings in doubt and cause shares to fall. Then, followed by J.J. Redick, Maya Moore, April Ross, Eric Bledsoe, Maggie Vessey, and Tia Blanco. Nope, its just Beyond Meat. I conservatively assume that Kraft Heinz can grow Beyond Meats revenue and NOPAT without spending any working capital or fixed assets beyond the original purchase price. Do you like this content? The plant-based food market will grow bigger and bigger every year. To illustrate, the company repackaged a portion of its slow-moving food service inventory for retail consumption. However, given the low margins and overvalued stock price, I think it would be unwise for a larger firm to acquire Beyond Meat at current levels. Below is a short list of some of Beyond Meats alternative meat competitors: This list is not exhaustive and doesnt include any of the traditional meat products that continue to garner a large share of consumer dollars. If you do subscribe to our retail trends newsletter to get the latest retail insights & trends delivered to your inbox. Before joining Beyond Meat, Mr. Oghoghomeh served as Senior Vice President, Brand Marketing at Red Bull from 2021 to February 2023. Stage of Market Lifestyle- The stage of the market lifestyle will influence the company on a few different categories. Beyond Meat Has Completely Altered Its Go-to-Market Strategy She has also held senior leadership roles across PepsiCo's North America business during her more than 15-year career at the food . . However, Kelloggs appears it is ready to launch Incogmeato and recently partnered with Postmates to deliver free Incogmeato samples to residents of Denver and Dallas. This is, in fact, after BYND partnered with Starbucks, Yum Brands, and Sinodis. What can you learn from this? Furthermore, Beyond Meat has a history of significant free cash flow (FCF) burn that is unlikely to change anytime soon. Often the largest risk to any bear thesis is what I call stupid money risk, which means an acquirer comes in and buys Beyond Meat at the current, or higher, share price despite the stock being overvalued. Figure 11 shows the implied values for Beyond Meat assuming Kraft Heinz wants to achieve an ROIC on the acquisition that equals 6%. Plant-based foods are more than a fad, they are a huge economic trend. Theres no actual blood,instead beet juice isused but it does the trick. Figure 10: Implied Acquisition Prices for Value-Neutral Deal. 2019: A Change In the Branding Strategy With the Arrival of Stun. Figure 9: BYND Has Large Downside Risk: DCF Valuation Scenario. Previously, people were limited to information they see on television which is in the best interests of companies that can afford those ad campaigns. Yet Beyond Meat's management made a critical decision during the second quarter to change course on product distribution. In this scenario, Beyond Meat would earn ~$12.5 billion (slightly more thanMarketsandMarkets2019 estimated global plant-based meat market size of $12.1 billion) in revenue in 2031, compared to $401 million TTM. First, consumers expectations for new products and innovation will rise over time. Moreover, the existing plant-based burgers had a disastrous reputation, they were ironically said to have as much flavor as the box they were in. Beyond Meat had to position itself as different from them as possible. Beyond Meats real breakthrough is not landing in the meat aisle or having celebrity endorsements but creating a plant based product people actually want to eat. Per Figure 5, Beyond Meat saw significant improvement in profitability in 2018, but the improvement was short lived. This created the need for healthy products. Beyond Meat's marketing strategy is to convert carnivores into occasional vegans. There have been many stories of grocery story employees getting told by their bosses to take the expired meat and mix it with regular meat and put it back out there on the shelf. When it comes to social causes brands still need to remember if the product isnt good no social cause, no matter how important can save it. Its stock value gained 163% on the day of its stock introduction. Plant based meats are not filled with dead animals which include bacteria growth and can contain other substances such as feces. Whos to say that its red meat? Its stock value gained 163% on the day of its stock introduction. Creating effective ad campaigns is every marketers struggle but thats where customer data comes in. For example, Kelloggs delayed the launch of its first round of Incogmeato products due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In any case, I view recent moves as encouraging as Beyond makes moves to improve its footing to grow as a . For example, Tyson Food, one of the biggest and earliest investors in Beyond Meat, which had a 5% stake in 2016 exited in 2019. With the high expectations of consumers and the competition they were about to create, knowing that they got in during the right time when consumers would take it as a positive and embrace this new way to eating meat, or meat substitute.. Plus, they created a new category by being one of the first to do it and do it right. This is the first time a vegan meat alternative has been merchandised in the meat department at Whole Foods Market.After that Beyond Meatstarted calling itself:the worldsfirst plant-based burger sold in the meat case of U.S. grocery stores.. This would, in turn, take BYNDs market cap to about $14 billion by 2023, from $9.6 billion currently. But just how do these brands fare when it comes to brand awareness and consideration. Figure 2: Beyond Meats Profitability vs.